Site News  |   Monitor Keywords  |   Monitor Archive  |   Organizer  |   Account Info  |

Color-guiding music teaching system including practice pad, pitch plates, percussion targets & lesson book assembly and method

This application is filed within one year of, and claims priority to Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/499,221, filed Aug. 29, 2003.

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates generally to musical instruments and teaching methods therefore and, more specifically, to a Color-guiding Music Teaching System including practice pad, pitch plates, percussion targets & lesson book assembly and method.

2. Description of Related Art

For over 3,000 years, people have been studying the elements of Music, and it's relationship to math and science. Even more so, the use of notations, inscriptions, symbols, and other elements of structuring written Music were used over 5,000 years ago by the Egyptians. In order to better translate Music from “playing it” as to “writing it,” a language had to be invented in order for various people to exchange their thoughts. Similar to a Vocal Language, speaking a “language” compared to reading and writing it, can be viewed as two mentally distinct human-functions. For example, a child can begin speaking words and communicating sentences at an early age, (i.e., toddler), however, the child doesn't begin to learn how to read and write what he is saying until later, such as beginning pre-school or kindergarten. Therefore, Music should be considered in this same regard.

Traditionally, Music has been taught in most schools beginning at 3rd grade. There is an illusion of it being too complex for a child, because the reading and writing of Music involves higher levels of mathematics. Even though higher levels of math are used, society's preconception is reversed. People think: “the Knowledge of Math helps to comprehend Music,” however, the truth is that “the Knowledge of Music helps to comprehend Math.”

The ease of making Music should not be compared to the complexity of reading and writing it. Even a child at an early age such as 3 or 4 can learn how to make Music similar to teaching this child how to speak a new language, such as a few words of Spanish or even teaching them how to talk in a second language.

In light of the aforementioned problems associated with the prior devices and methods, it is an object of the present invention to provide a Color-guiding Music Teaching System: practice pad, pitch plates, percussion targets & lesson book assembly and method. The teaching method should enable younger students to learn music much faster than before by creating an association between musical notes, audible pitch, visual appearance and tactile feel. Several devices should be provided, ranging from simple striking targets to more complex musical instruments that have visually, possibly audibly, and even possibly tactilely distinct striking targets incorporated or attached thereto to accompany execution of the teaching method.

The objects and features of the present invention, which are believed to be novel, are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The present invention, both as to its organization and manner of operation, together with further objects and advantages, may best be understood by reference to the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, of which:

FIGS. 1A-1C are flowcharts depicting preferred teaching methods of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of a pitch pad practice device of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the pad assembly of the device of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an alternate preferred embodiment of a pitch pad practice device of the present invention;

FIGS. 5A and 5B are perspective and top views, respectively of a preferred embodiment of a pitch plate practice device of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of a pitch pad practice device having an integrated cadence generating assembly;

FIG. 7 is a preferred embodiment of a conga drum practice device of the present invention;